Open-File Report 2001-295

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Abstract

Flow data were collected from two adjacent rivers in Yukon?Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska?the Nation River (during 1991?2000) and the Kandik River (1994?2000)?and from the Yukon River (1950?2000) at Eagle, Alaska, upstream from the boundary of the preserve. These flow records indicate that most of the runoff from these rivers occurs from May through September and that the average monthly discharge during this period ranges from 1,172 to 2,210 cubic feet per second for the Nation River, from 1,203 to 2,633 cubic feet per second for the Kandik River, and from 112,000 to 224,000 cubic feet per second for the Yukon River.
Water-quality data were collected for the Nation River and several of its tributaries from 1991 to 1992 and for the Yukon River at Eagle from 1950 to 1994. Three tributaries to the Nation River (Waterfall Creek, Cathedral Creek, and Hard Luck Creek) have relatively high concentrations of calcium, magnesium, and sulfate. These three watersheds are underlain predominantly by Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks. The Yukon River transports 33,000,000 tons of suspended sediment past Eagle each year. Reflecting the inputs from its major tributaries, the water of the Yukon River at Eagle is dominated by calcium?magnesium bicarbonate.